Large merchandising enterprises such as regional, national or global retailers and suppliers of various goods are better able to leverage the advantages provided by their size when they are able to promote accuracy and efficiency at the individual retail outlet level. In general, a store as used herein is a physical location where transactions occur between the customer and the enterprise. Stores may be subdivided into smaller sections or departments to more effectively control and track their revenues and expenses. Examples of departments for a typical large store or what is typically called a superstore may include a men's clothing department, women's clothing department, toy department, consumer electronics department, grocery department, meat department, pharmacy department, furniture department and the like. Examples of departments within a typical grocery store can include the meat department, pharmacy department, grocery department and the like.
An enterprise can be a number or collection of stores that may be grouped by geographical or corporate characteristics, such as divisions. A division can be a subset of stores within an enterprise. Divisions may be defined by geographical location, type of store, e.g. a convenience store or a superstore, or demographics, e.g. rural, urban or suburban. Individual stores may vary in size, geographic region and consumer demographics; however, groups of stores or departments may appear virtually identical. It is difficult to promote accuracy and efficiency when dealing with a large diverse enterprise. One method of promoting accuracy and efficiency is to identify areas of commonality and to promote consistency within those areas. In particular, one area in which significant benefits may be obtained through consistency is the uniform arrangement of items on store shelves. This uniformity can result in the prearrangement of the items on pallets, i.e., palletization, in an optimized manner for delivery and sequential off-loading of the items onto the store shelves.
Inconsistent grouping of items can waste time and money. For example, it takes a significant amount of time simply to unload the items from a pallet and place the items on the appropriate store shelves. As the items are unloaded from a pallet, it is inefficient for the employee to have to move between different aisles in order to stock the items on the proper shelves. Additionally, numerous changes often occur regarding the particular items being handled by the individual stores. For example, new items are continually introduced and existing items continually moved from the aisle to an end cap and vice versa. Large amounts of time can be wasted simply trying to determine the proper aisle location for the unloaded items.
Consequently, systems that provide for the placement of items onto pallets by store item location to allow sequential off-loading of the items for easy stocking of store shelves are desirable.